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In what has been a lackluster training camp for the wide receiver position (after Torrey Smith), two bright spots have been a couple rookies.

Aaron Mellette and Marlon Brown are two players that have at least given the wide receiver position a pulse this preseason. With so many struggling above them on the depth chart, both have not only shown up during practice, they’ve also put together some impressive game film.

Having watched this battle closely throughout the preseason, it appears that each player has one-upped the other at various points throughout training camp, but neither have gained separation.

Draft

The Ravens didn’t invest much into Mellette, using one of their two seventh-round picks on the Elon University receiver. By drafting Mellette, the team assured that he’d at least be invited to their training camp and other teams wouldn’t have an option to recruit him during the undrafted free agency scramble after the draft.

For Brown, the story was different. It was a stroke of luck that he ended up in the Ravens’ training camp. Brown originally chose to join the Houston Texans, but somewhere along the line there was a snag and he ended up in Baltimore instead.

“We recruited him like crazy,” Harbaugh said about Brown. “We really liked him from the beginning. [When] I saw him, he jumped off the tape.”

If Brown wasn’t coming off a torn ACL suffered in his final year at Georgia, he certainly would have been drafted. Luckily, the stars aligned and the Ravens got a very good talent and it didn’t cost them a draft pick.

Advantage: Mellette

Running With The First Team

Last Sunday, the Ravens gave Torrey Smith a day off. The purpose, though, wasn’t just to rest Smith; they were trying to see what type of rapport the rookies could build with quarterback Joe Flacco. With Jacoby Jones on one side, Brown got first crack with the starters.

Throughout the week, each player had their fair share of reps working with Flacco.

When it came time to enter the game, Mellette was the first rookie receiver to join the first team, replacing Jones.

Advantage: Mellette

Game Film

Brown scored his first touchdown of the preseason on Thursday against the Panthers. In total, Brown led the Ravens receivers in all three major categories with his four catches for 59 yards and a touchdown. His showing was even more impressive because even though the Panthers’ secondary isn’t one of the best, they are NFL starters. Mellette, on the other hand, has flourished against backups.

Speaking of Mellette, he had a sub-par night, catching only two passes for nine yards.

Here are their stats through three preseason games:

Games

Targeted

Catches

Yards

TD

YPC

Aaron Mellette

3

5

4

70

2

17.5

Marlon Brown

2

9

6

90

1

15

When it comes to their style of play, Mellette has displayed good footwork at times and with a little coaching, can likely improve his route running and moves to lose cornerbacks. Mellette has made more plays than just catching a pair of touchdowns; he’s also drawn multiple pass interference penalties. However, I’ve seen that Mellette struggles with getting separation which is why his touchdowns looked so good – he was well covered.

Brown is a big target (6-5, 205) and at least to me, shows better seperation skills at this point. Given the amount of times he’s been targeted and his success in fewer games, you’d have to think his game film is better at this point.

Advantage: Brown

What Will The Ravens Do?

As it stands now, this competition is too close to call in my opinion. If I had to pick, I think Brown would be the safest option at this point to make the 53-man roster. His size is too good to pass up, he worked more from the slot (a position the Ravens have struggled with) and he’s proven he can play with the first team.

For Mellette and Brown, they’ll have to treat each practice as if it was a game because this battle is equivalent to a two-minute drive to get into field goal range for the win.

I can’t envision the Ravens letting either of these players reach their practice squad because they’re likely to be claimed by another team. More likely than not, the one player will earn a spot on the 53-man roster, and another will be placed on injured reserve to protect them as a project for this season as the Ravens did with Tommy Streeter last year. But, unlike Streeter, these players have NFL potential.

Expect a hangnail to pop up after Thursday’s preseason finale against the St. Louis Rams. As for who gets it, that depends on another week’s worth of practice and game film.

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About Kris Jones

Kris - or "Goob" as he's widely known - has turned an obsession into a career. As a media member by day and super fan by night, he reports from the Under Armour Performance Center twice per week and brings Ravens news from a fan's perspective. His popular YouTube series Goobvision propelled his career and notoriety amongst Ravens fans, even helping him win the 2010 nationwide DIRECTV Ultimate Displaced Fan contest. He's been featured on shows such as The Jim Rome Show, ProFootballTalk Live, The Sirius XM Blitz with Rich Gannon and Adam Schein, Sirius XM's MadDog Radio, The Michael Irvin Show, Tony Bruno Show, Two Live Stews and FoxSports.com to name a few (or is that a lot?). He's caught a touchdown pass from Warren Moon during a flag football game and hates the Pittsburgh Steelers more than anyone else on the face of the earth.
Twitter: RavenManiac More from Kris Jones

2+ Comments TonyLombardi says Dusty728 Thanks Dusty. That is an article that deserves its own space. Maybe we can get someone to give a behind the scenes account of the great William Donald 17 hours ago

Why cant they BOTH make the 53 man Roster???? The only reciever that has performed better than these two is Torrey Smith. Jones, Doss, Streeter, and Thompson should be behind both of them on the depth chart. Being a rookie shouldn't mean one has to be IR'ed! It's simple... let the best players play!

Brown looks to be the real deal. His TD catch was instinctual. And in today's NFL the middle of the field is where safeties are not allowed to hit. He needs to be with the first string eventually. Can he go deep?

Marlon Brown just seems a bit more polished at this point. His awareness of the first down marker, his route running, his ability to separate. He is just a more polished player than Mellette. It is not like the Ravens are going to go with Mellette over Brown just because Mellette was the draft pick. Look no further than last season when Thompson, initially, made the active roster over Streeter. They both ended up on IR nut Streeter was sent during the preseason and Thompson was sent after actually playing in a few games.

Filmstudy - Filmstudy is a sophisticated and comprehensive statistical analysis of the Ravens defense that incorporates a participation-by-play tracking system. This unique analysis is the brain child of the author and provides our readers with the real story behind the Ravens’ top end defensive results in the National Football League. Make Russellstreetreport.com the source for all of your Ravens football news and the forum to talk about what the Ravens fans want to hear most.

Lombardi’s Way - A column from the 24×7 founder that focuses on the Ravens, the NFL, Baltimore, the world of sports or life’s inspirations.

Battle Plans - During the season, you can expect to find thoughtful analysis in each of our Game Previews. We bring out the chalk and then talk X’s and O’s. In the offseason, Dev Panchwagh — The Scientist, digs beneath the surface and serves up insightful commentary on issues facing the Ravens and the NFL. School is in session!